Broken
by Krissyy
Summary: What happens when Kate gets in a car crash and ends up at Jack's hospital?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: A jate story I wrote a while ago. I doubt I'll continue it. I have a few chapters, though, I'll put them up as I find them.

"Broken"

**Chapter One**

It had been two years since they were rescued. And Jack Shephard still remembered that day. Helicopters swarming the island, waiting for the remaining survivors to climb aboard. He remembered saying all those goodbyes once they were home. He remembered saying goodbye to Kate. Jack had not had any contact with her since that day. And, to be honest, he wasn't even thinking about her right now, this Tuesday night.

Sighing, he flopped onto his couch, just home from a long day of work at the hospital. Kicking off his shoes, Jack turned on the T.V. He flipped through the channels until he found that satisfied him – the news. He closed his eyes slowly and sank into the comfortable cushions of his leather couch. And he had barely been listening to the audio of the T.V. until he heard a name that made his heart skip a beat – Katherine Austen. Jack's eyes shot open as he started watching the news story.

_"The two cars collided recently on Highway 95. The drivers, Katherine Austen and a woman in her mid-thirties have been sent to Midfield County Hospital. Both of them came out of this with minor injuries…"_

Immediately, Jack shut off the T.V. and grabbed his coat. Midfield County was where he worked.

"What are you doing here, Shephard? I thought you left a while ago," asked Jack's coworker Jim Lowry.

"Is she here yet? The car crash – Kate Austen," Jack stumbled.

"She was just brought into the ER," Jim replied, looking confused."

"I need to see her," said Jack.

"Well you won't be able to until she's out of the ER and in a private room," Jim said, "How do you know her?"

"The plane crash," mumbled Jack, wondering if Kate was still on the run as he sat down in a nearby waiting room chair, "On the island we were…pretty close."

"Well," said Jim, "I'd say she'll be fine. As far as I know, she just has a fractured left arm and minor damage around the upper chest."

Jack nodded, slightly relieved. That wasn't bad. "When will she be out of the ER?"

"A few hours, probably," replied Jim, "But I've got to get home, I was headed out when you got here. So…"

Jack nodded again, "All right."

Jim started towards the door, but turned around. "And Jack?" Jack lifted his head. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

Forcing a tiny smile, Jack replied, "Thanks." And he rested his head on his fist, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. Before he knew it, he had drifted asleep against his own will.

"Jack, wake up already!" Charlie was shaking him back and forth, Claire standing nearby.

"Oh God, I fell asleep," mumbled Jack groggily, immediately realizing where he was, "Where is she?"

"Claire smiled at him. "They said she's asleep, but she'll most likely be fine, and we can visit her. Charlie and I thought that you should see her first. The room is 209."

"That's right down this hall," Jack said, feeling relieved, "Thanks, you guys." He started down the familiar hallway, with Charlie and Claire behind him, and stepped into room 209.

There she was. Kate. It had seemed like forever, but she looked the same to Jack. The same beautiful Kate. Her chocolate brown springy hair caressing her freckled skin which now sported an occasional bruise.

Jack slowly walked closer to the bed, Charlie and Claire remaining in the doorway. He knelt beside the bed gently once close enough.

"Hey," he whispered, and bit his lip. He cautiously intertwined his fingers with her motionless ones. "I missed you," he said softly. Unexpectedly, Kate's sparkling eyes fluttered open and she moved her lips as if trying to speak. No sound emerged.

"Oh, yeah," Charlie announced from the doorway, "The doctors also said she won't be able to talk for a little while. Something about her vocal chords."

Jack nodded and turned back to Kate. A lone tear had fallen from her eye and he wiped it away with his free hand. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. You're doing fine. And I'll stay with you. I'll take care of you. Now you should really try and get some more rest."

Kate's lips spread into a smile, which was enough to comfort Jack. She slowly shut her eyes and gave his hand a squeeze before drifting back asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Jack had stayed with Kate that night, and the next, only leaving her room to work. She would be released from the hospital in a week or two, he was told. They were really only keeping her to do a few more blood tests and to make sure her voice returned. Charlie and Claire visited her frequently to keep her company when Jack was busy with work.

"Hey, Jack," Charlie called, catching his attention from where he stood talking with coworkers. Jack quickly came to Charlie's side.

"Kate was asking for you, mate," Charlie said with a smirk.

"I thought she couldn't talk," responded Jack, raising an eyebrow.

"Claire brought her a pad of paper so she could, you know, write down what she wanted to say," explained Charlie.

Jack nodded. "I'm taking my lunch break!" he yelled to the circle of people he had just finished speaking with. Then Charlie and he started towards Kate's room. They found that Claire was beside her bed talking to her. When she saw Jack come into the room, Claire walked out the door.

Jack stepped into the room, smiling when he noticed the pad of paper Charlie had been talking about. It was flipped open to a page that had "Where's Jack?" scribbled in messy handwriting.

"How are you doing?" Jack asked, kneeling beside her bed. Kate nodded and gave a smile, then pointed to the pad of paper. Jack handed it and the black pen that was resting on top of it to her.

"Fine," she wrote, "I just wanted to see you." Jack nodded.

"Sorry I hadn't come in to see you yet today. I've been busy," he explained.

"Oh, no, that's fine," Kate wrote, "I don't want to get in the way of your work or anything."

"You won't," said Jack, and then the two sat there in an awkward moment of silence.

"Hey, um, I was wondering," Jack said, clearing his throat as he cut through the silence, "Where are you going to be once you're out of here? I mean, where were you living?"

Kate flipped to a new page in the notepad, and wrote what seemed to be a long message, pausing to think a few times. A second blanket of silence fell over the room as she did so.

Finally, she handed it to Jack. "I was staying with Sawyer in an apartment," as he read that, Jack felt a punch in the stomach, "But I left it. And I left him. Well, I was sort of in the process of leaving when the car crash happened."

"Where were you going?" asked Jack when he had finished reading, and handed the paper back to Kate.

"I don't know," she wrote, "I probably would have ended up at a hotel. I didn't really think about it."

Jack nodded. "Are you still…running?"

She shook her head 'no' and wrote, "All charges dropped...almost like a miracle."

Unable to contain a smile, Jack said, "I'm happy for you." Kate nodded, and smiled along with him. "Well when you get out of here," said Jack, "You can stay with me. I mean, if you want to, I'd be glad to have you."

Kate started writing with a smirk. But when she put down the notepad, her eyes widened as she noticed the dark figure standing in the doorway of the hospital room. It was Sawyer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Jack followed Kate's gaze to see Sawyer standing in the doorway. He quickly got up. "What are you doing here?" Jack asked quietly, but grimly.

"I came to see her, what do you think?" Sawyer replied, trying to enter the room that Jack was blocking.

"Hey, just let it go. She's almost fully recovered. She doesn't need stress right now-"But Jack was cut off.

"Stress? Doc, don't you know? Freckles and me are together," Sawyer said.

"I thought…" Jack began, and looked back at Kate. She nodded her head towards the doorway, indicating for Jack to leave. He quietly obeyed, and Sawyer stepped towards the bed. Kate grabbed the pad of paper.

"How-How are you?" he asked her.

Kate jotted down a quick message, "I lost my voice for a little bit." Sawyer nodded and Kate continued writing, "Didn't you get my note?"

He looked confused, "Nah. I got home and couldn't find you. I called everyone until someone said they saw a news story on the accident, and I figured out what hospital you were in. I'm sorry I couldn't have been here sooner."

Then he read Kate's message, "I was leaving you." And he sat there for a minute before uttering, "What?"

"It wasn't right," said her next message, "We weren't right. I had had that feeling for a while and I decided to do something about it. I'm sorry." When Sawyer didn't respond with anything, she continued writing. "I thought you heard me and Jack talking about it."

"You were talking about _us_ with _him_?" Sawyer asked angrily.

Kate had started writing again, but he was already walking out the door of the room. "Just forget it." Feeling completely helpless, Kate looked down at what she had written - "I love _Jack_." She ripped the page out, crumpled it up, and threw it on the floor, starting to feel hot tears stream down her cheeks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Kate, what's wrong?" Jack asked immediately when he returned to check on her.

She wiped away some tears, not wanting him to worry. "Nothing," she wrote messily, "Just Sawyer."

"I thought _you_ broke it off with _him_," said Jack, then added, "Don't let him get to you, he's not worth it."

"He just hadn't known. I wasn't planning on anything face-to-face. I had left a note, but apparently he didn't find it," Kate scratched onto the paper. Jack nodded, and glanced around the room, noticing the crumpled piece of paper.

"What's this?" he asked, picking it up and starting to unfold it. But Kate shoved the notepad in front of his face. "Don't read that," it said.

"Why, what is it?" asked Jack, stopping.

"Nothing, just please don't."

Jack shrugged and tossed it into the trash basket, returning to the side of the bed and kneeling down.

"Thank you," Kate wrote, "See, that's the difference between you and Sawyer. He would have read that and made me so embarrassed. But you…I can trust you."

"Embarrassed, huh?" smirked Jack, but stopped what he was saying when he felt Kate's warm breath on his shoulder, realizing how close they were. He slowly leaned in towards her, but, of course, right then they heard Charlie at the doorway.

"Oops, is this supposed to be doctor-patient confidential?" he chuckled.

"Oh, Charlie, shut up and leave them alone," Claire scolded, dragging him away.

Jack looked back to Kate, her cheeks a bright shade of pink. "Well, I've got to…get back to work," he said quietly, and stood up. Once he had exited, Kate's eyes wandered over to the trash basket that held the crumpled paper, and she sighed.


End file.
